Emergency Medical Dispatch - Glossary Terms

Abandonment

Answer explanation

Unilateral termination of a patient-caretaker relationship by the caretaker where an adequate replacement for that caretaker has not been provided when this action results in some preventable harm.

Abrasion

Answer explanation

Scraping or rubbing away of a surface. It is usually the result of traumatic injury.

ACE (Accredited Center of Excellence)

Answer explanation

Centers that have achieved compliance to the highest level of standards as set forth by the Academy's Twenty Points of Accreditation.

ACLS (Advanced Cardiac Life Support)

Answer explanation

Unified standard of care for cardiac emergencies including drugs, intubation, and other invasive procedures.

Acute

Answer explanation

Sharp, severe, or having rapid onset and short course; not chronic.

ALS (Advanced Life Support)

Answer explanation

Intervention that utilizes cardiac monitoring, advanced airways, and pharmacology for the treatment of life-threatening emergencies. This term refers to care given prehospital or inhospital.

AED (Automated External Defibrillator)

Answer explanation

A portable, computerized device that interprets cardiac rhythms, verbally coaches the user, and the advises shock (or no shock) for electrically correctable rhythms.

AI (Additional Information)

Answer explanation

An MPDS protocol component that contains information necessary to process calls as well as general information pertaining to specific chief complaints.

ALI (Automatic Location Identification)

Answer explanation

The database technology that allows communication centers to identify the location of a caller based on the caller's phone number. The effectiveness of this technology is limited to the accuracy of the database.

ANI (Automatic Number Identification)

Answer explanation

The database technology that displays the phone number used by the caller to access the communication center. The effectiveness of this technology is limited to the accuracy of the database.